Here’s the good news: If Bob McDonnell has his way, you’ll pay less at the pump.
There’s a flip side to that. Every other time you buy anything, you’ll pay for what you’re saving at the pump, and more.
That’s the foundation of the McDonnell transportation funding scheme, that and his nonsensical $100 annual fee on alternative-fuel vehicles, whose owners will be penalized by the state for having the foresight to buy vehicles that use less fuel and release fewer emissions into the atmosphere.
McDonnell had signaled in December his apparent willingness to consider an increase in the gas tax, which because it has been used as a source for transportation dollars is effectively a user fee, in that you only buy gas if you’re going to drive a vehicle on a roadway. The sales tax is the most regressive of taxes, in that it impacts disproportionately those with lower incomes, including single parents, the working poor and seniors.
So we’re sticking it to single parents, the working poor, seniors and people who own hybrids. Democrats, basically, right?
This plan has no chance of getting through the State Senate in its current form. Expect competing proposals that include an increase in the gas tax that themselves will have no chance of getting through the House of Delegates or past McDonnell’s desk if it were to somehow get that far.
We will be back to square zero with this come spring. Meanwhile, our roads are crumbling.
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